Elderflower Champagne: Time to bottle or dangerously explosive?

Hi! I’m pretty new to homebrewing but have a 2 gallon batch of elderflower champagne on the go. I’m at the point where I’m thinking of bottling but I’m not sure whether it’s safe or even too flat. My OG was 1090 and I left in the primary for about 5 days before transferring to two demijohns. Everything bubbling away lovely after a day, though one a little more than the other. Tested with a hydrometer and was astonished to find it had already dropped to 990! One demijohn still bubbling away every couple of mins whilst the other probably about a third of that rate. Left for a few more days as didn’t have time to deal with it and bubbling was down to about 1 every 15 mins in one, every 5 in the other. Thinking that I want to ensure it has some sparkle left, I added a sugar solution of 40g sugar to 120ml water divided between the two and left over night. Bubbling now back up to one every 5mins in the one and every 1 min in the other. Is this still too active to bottle or should I go for it now?

I'll let the experts reply this one. About 10 yrs ago I made one following Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall recipe which turned out to be wrong so was quite sweet. The yeast slowly chomped away in the bottle but luckily I used Grolsch bottles as it pushed the seal out and stuck itself to the ceiling.

Hi Liam, by adding more sugar to the demijohns you've actually started the fermentation again,it'll keep going until there's no sugar left.You need to add a little sugar to the bottle when your demijohns have stopped fermenting, this way the secondry ferment takes place in the bottle and gives the fizz(carbonation) to the drink.I'd let it stop fermenting in the dj's then bottle prime,you'll have to use bottles that will take the pressure.

DavieC said:

Hi Liam, by adding more sugar to the demijohns you've actually started the fermentation again,it'll keep going until there's no sugar left.You need to add a little sugar to the bottle when your demijohns have stopped fermenting, this way the secondry ferment takes place in the bottle and gives the fizz(carbonation) to the drink.I'd let it stop fermenting in the dj's then bottle prime,you'll have to use bottles that will take the pressure.

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Yes, that was kind of my intention. I thought by adding the sugar solution to the demijohn instead of the bottle I could gauge the reaction rather than taking a chance that it would create too much pressure. Was that not the right thing to do? I had assumed that fermentation was basically done based on the fact that the FG was so low. If I left it longer than that would all the yeast not die, meaning I couldn’t get any secondary fermentation in the bottle?

@Liam, dissolving the sugar in hot water and adding to the demijohn is my preferred way of doing it.

I like mine fairly fizzy so go for about 10g of sugar per litre, which makes 3.3 volumes of carbonation. I use normal beer bottles for that and even the really light Koppaberg bottles haven't once broken.

You can mess about with the calculator below if you want to knock it back. Put the temperature if finishes fermenting at - for me it's usually 19 or 20c.
https://www.brewersfriend.com/beer-priming-calculator/

Drunkula said:

@Liam, dissolving the sugar in hot water and adding to the demijohn is my preferred way of doing it.

I like mine fairly fizzy so go for about 10g of sugar per litre, which makes 3.3 volumes of carbonation. I use normal beer bottles for that and even the really light Koppaberg bottles haven't once broken.

You can mess about with the calculator below if you want to knock it back. Put the temperature if finishes fermenting at - for me it's usually 19 or 20c.
https://www.brewersfriend.com/beer-priming-calculator/

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So do you think I’m ok with what I have done? When you bottle is the airlock still regularly bubbling and, if so, how frequently? The gravity is already so low that I’m not really getting any indication from any recipes I’ve read that the wine is ready to bottle. All I can see is that one of my demijohns seems quite active and the other is very slow.

The one at 990 was almost certainly done. When you put in the priming sugar you want to bottle straight away. 40g of sugar would have given you a reasonable fizz, but I like cider and sparkling wines and 'country beers' really rocking to make up for the lack of body. I actually took a cheeky glass out of the fermenter for my elderflower that I'm only brewing to 6% and the current fizz isn't

I'd let that sugar already in there brew out then prime and bottle it shouldn't take long for the yeast to gobble it up.

If you have any sediment or "bottoms" after racking and bottling, don't throw it away. Leave it in a DJ without a stopper for a couple of weeks. With a decent following wind it will turn into the best vinegar you have ever tasted. Goes superbly in a salad dressing.

I made 10 litres last year using Hugh Fearnley recipe. I too pondered on when to bottle it. A YouTube search suggested that a gravity of 1010 was a good level. I did this and put it into one litre plastic sparkling water / mixer bottles. I didn't have any disasters.

Photo of last bottle of last year's batch



If you put it in suitable plastic bottles, then you can always let some of the pressure out, if the bottles start to distort.

Shirley Bassett said:

I made 10 litres last year using Hugh Fearnley recipe. I too pondered on when to bottle it. A YouTube search suggested that a gravity of 1010 was a good level. I did this and put it into one litre plastic sparkling water / mixer bottles. I didn't have any disasters.

Photo of last bottle of last year's batch

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If you put it in suitable plastic bottles, then you can always let some of the pressure out, if the bottles start to distort.

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I’ve just bottled. Half the batch in glass, the other in plastic so I could get an idea on how much pressure was building. I also heard I should bottle at 1010 but I never got the chance. The level dropped way down in a matter of a few days, however the air locks were still bubbling nicely so I thought this would be a indication of the amount of fizz left. I did prime bottles with little sugar solution too so let’s see if my house is covered in wine by the morning!

Hi @Liam , how has this turned out, is your elderflower champers clear or cloudy? How is the carbonation and taste? Ive done 5ltrs with pink elderflowers, great colour but very cloudy.

DavieC said:

Hi @Liam , how has this turned out, is your elderflower champers clear or cloudy? How is the carbonation and taste? Ive done 5ltrs with pink elderflowers, great colour but very cloudy.

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It’s cleared quite nicely now it’s been bottled for nearly two weeks. Not sure on the carbonation, the plastic bottles have firmed a fair amount but not loads. I don’t know whether it will build much more but I’ll leave it a few months yet before trying one. Taste-wise seemed ok at bottling but looking forward to a proper trial soon. Have you tried any of yours yet?

I tried a little taste of the dregs but plan to have a glass on Saturday at a family bbq, ive only just bottled it so will do a 'squeeze' test on Saturday morning to see how firm the bottle is.
It tasted ok really, strong elderflower taste, the bit of fizz should improve it as well I think.

DavieC said:

I tried a little taste of the dregs but plan to have a glass on Saturday at a family bbq, ive only just bottled it so will do a 'squeeze' test on Saturday morning to see how firm the bottle is.
It tasted ok really, strong elderflower taste, the bit of fizz should improve it as well I think.

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Yes, a nice chill should improve it too. Let me know what it’s like!

I tried some of the elderflower champagne yesterday, it tasted good, it didnt have much carbonation but was perhaps a bit too soon after bottling(I let the brew ferment out and then primed the bottles @10g per litre.Ive still got 3 bottles left and will leave these at least another fortnight before drinking so may have more fizz, if not in future I'll increase the priming sugar.Great taste though, well worth doing.